Room on the Broom (2012)

Obviously they had to pad out the book to make an animation of reasonable length. Most of the additions are good.. eg. presenting the dragon early and seeing him periodically adds some suspense and might have actually made the book betterOther things though don't add anything and draw things out too much making it a chore to watch repeatedly with a child, eg. when they are washing, when they get separated from the witch and various other small throw-away sequences add a good five minutes to the durationAnyway, still good. The vocal performances and music are nice

This Oscar nominated animated short is based on the children's book by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Its a slight tale of a witch and a cat on an adventure that attracts other animals to the annoyance of the moggy to join them on the broom hence the title, Room on the broom.The animation short is brought from the same team that did The Gruffalo and they managed to get a starry cast of vocalists from Simon Pegg, Gillian Anderson, Rob Brydon, Sally Hawkins, David Walliam and Timothy Spall.The story is likely to be enjoyed by smaller children than families unlike the Aardman animated short. I actually felt listless watching this having realised that I was not the target audience but the kids liked it.

"Room on the Broom" is an Academy-Award nominated, 25-minute short film by Jan Lachauer, Max Lang and Julia Donaldson. Two of these already worked on "The Gruffalo" together and that is why you will find a couple similarities apart from the rhymes. For example the scene near the end with the "monster" chasing away the dragon is very similar in tone and style to the ending from "The Gruffalo". The animation is very clean and precise and the group of animals reminded me already of the Bremen Town Musicians before they stood atop on each other near the end. The main character is a witch with all the usual traits, the broom, the long nose, the hat, the mole and the not so attractive appearance. However, in contrast to Disney's usual approach it is a good witch, actually one of the most likable animated characters in recent years.I liked that this short film also included animals who would not join the witch on the broom, so you could wonder a bit what the next one is gonna be. The funny highlight here is the cat and its constant skepticism when the witch invites the next guest to the broom. The dramatic highlight near the end is nicely done. The eyes of the dragon near the witch really give off a scary vibe and the chase scene is pretty dramatic too. In order to make it not too scary, they included some funny, quite bizarre rhyming for the dragon including the witch being his meal with or without chips. That was funny in an odd way. The ending not much later is decent. I liked the design of the new broom and how everybody has their space, but I did not like that it was handled a bit more emotional than it actually was with the music and everything.All in all, this is, despite the Oscar nomination, really more suitable for children although I cannot deny I had a good time watching it, maybe because my inner child is still alive and kicking.

From the same team that did the last two Gruffalo films comes this season's animation for Christmas Day. The films fit into the slot traditionally filled by the Wallace and Gromit films and, although none of them (this one included) have ever got close to that standard, they do at least do the job for the audience and time they are on. In this film a cat and a witch are helped to locate some missing items but end up taking on passengers each time – all well and good perhaps but they do not know that a dragon is stalking the witch for his tea.The music and the animation pretty much get you in the mood from the very start as they are slight, amusing in tone and non-threatening. The narration from Simon Pegg is good as it delivers the nicely paced gentle rhymes which form the structure of the film; they are repetitive in nature but this is the point of them and it works well. As the content is pretty simple, the animation adds plenty of amusing and funny moments whether in actual gags or in terms of little flourishes or moments of characterization. This is the main body of the film and it is this that helps it fill the time and stops it feeling too slow. The animation also makes the characters work because, as famous as the cast-list is, nobody really makes an impact beyond Pegg – it is the physical actions and reactions of the characters that make them work.It isn't amazingly smart or hilarious but it is gently funny and warming while drawing you in with the animation and the nice tone and rhythm of the delivery. A good family short film for Christmas Day and will have legs beyond that very specific time slot.